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BOX-FOLDER-REPORT: 130-1-194
TITLE:             Weekly Record of Events in Eastern Europe
BY:                
DATE:              1989-11-10
COUNTRY:           (n/a)
ORIGINAL SUBJECT:  

--- Begin ---

RADIO FREE EUROPE
RADIO LIBERTY

RADIO FREE EUROPE Research
10 November 1989

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS IN EASTERN EUROPE
2 to 8 November 1989

BULGARIA

November 2 Yanko Yankov, a dissident law professor jailed for
"anti-state activities" in 1985, was released from
prison.

The independent environmental group Eco-Glasnost'
applied for associate membership in the European
Environmental Bureau in Brussels, an umbrella
organization for 120 environmental groups in the
European Community.

The Independent Discussion Club for the Support of
Glasnost ' and Perestrolka held its first public
meeting in the Petar Beron cinema in Sofia. More
than 450 people reportedly attended, with an
additional 300 gathered outside in private
discussion groups. Speakers' appeals for democratic
reform and freedom of speech received standing
ovations.

The official parliamentary Committee for Protection
of the Environment heard "sharp discussions" during
a session on the Rila Mountains reservoir project

The State Council and the Council of Ministers
approved decrees on the reform of health services,
including the lifting of the 1972 ban on private
medical and dental practice.

Bulgarian delegates to the CSCE environmental
conference in Sofia told Western diplomats and
journalists that Todor Zhivkov had personally
telephoned Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu in a
bid to persuade him to reconsider Romania's refusal
to endorse the final conference document because of
its human-rights clauses.

Sofia hosted a two-day Bulgarian-West German seminar
focusing on bilateral trade and the prospects of the
West German economy in the 1990's.

This material was prepared, for the use of the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

[page 2]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

November 3 Six Eco-Glasnost' members delivered an environmental
petition with some 12,500 signatures to the National
Assembly, while approximately 5,000 people, shouting
"democracy" and "glasnost'" and singing patriotic
folk songs, gathered outside the building. This
was the first independent demonstration in more than
40 years of BCP rule.

November 4 Politburo member and CC Secretary Grisha Filipov
presented the main speech at a meeting marking the
72nd anniversary of the October Revolution.

November 5 Foreign Minister Petar Mladenov made an official
-8 good-will visit to China. Among the topics
discussed were developments in Eastern Europe.

November 6 During a two-day visit to Paris, Foreign Economic
-8 Relations Minister Andrei Lukanov conferred with his
French counterparts and met Prime Minister Michel
Rocard. Lukanov also held discussions with leading
businessmen on large-scale cooperation projects
between the two countries. He stated that Bulgaria
would not compete with other East bloc countries in
a race to introduce reforms but intended to proceed
by stages.

November 7 U.N. delegate Stoyan Bakalov told the General
Assembly's Social, Humanitarian and Cultural
Committee that vehicles were traveling through
Bulgaria from unidentified "drug production
centers." He stated that Bulgaria was conducting a
war against drug trafficking "at a great cost."

November 8 The Hungarian press agency MTI reported that an
unidentified Bulgarian man had been granted
political asylum in Hungary. MTI said he had stood
up for the rights of ethnic Turks in Bulgaria, and
as a result his life had been made "extremely
miserable and unbearable."

[page 3]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

November 2 The Czechoslovak government spokesman said that
police suppression of demonstrations cannot solve
political problems, but that dialogue about
important political questions cannot effectively be
conducted in the streets.

CPCS Presidium member Jozef Lenart, on a two-day
visit to Switzerland, met with representatives of
the European Economic Commission at the United
Nations.

Foreign Minister Jaromir Johanes, on a visit to
China, met with Prime Minister Li Peng to discuss
economic cooperation. Both officials agreed that
reforms in both countries required political
stability.

November 3 A 700-member-strong delegation of the Social
Democratic Party of West Berlin, led by West Berin
Mayor Walter Momper, arrived in Prague.

Czechoslovak border guards prevented a number of
Czechoslovaks from attending a conference on Central
European problems held in Wroclaw, Poland. The
conference was sponsored by an unofficial group
called Czechoslovak-Polish Solidarity and attended
by scholars and cultural figures from
Czechoslovakia, Poland and the West.

November 5 Six Czechoslovak independent groups sent an open
letter to Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard
Shevardnadze disputing his view of the reassessment
of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.

November 8 Cardinal Frantisek Tomasek, the Czech Catholic
Primate, and other Czechoslovak religious officials
as well as common believers arrived in Rome to
participate in the canonization of the blessed Agnes
of Bohemia. Tomasek was greeted by Pope John Paul
II.

[page 5]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC

November 2 Egon Krenz held talks in East Berlin with EEC
Commissioner Martin Bangemann. Krenz said he hoped
an agreement on an expansion of trade with the EEC
could be worked out as soon as possible.

Egon Krenz traveled to Warsaw, where he held talks
with Polish President Wojciech Jaruzelski, Prime
Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, and PUWP head
Mieczyslaw Rakowski.

The Chairman of the East German Trade Union
Federation, Harry Tisch, resigned. The
federation's executive board voted 174-0 with two
abstentions to appoint Annelis Kimmel, the former
head of the federation's East Berlin branch, as its
new leader. Tisch had come under criticism for
representing the interests of the SED and not the
trade unions, and for being out of touch with the
workers, and for his authoritarian leadership style.

ADN announced the resignation of Margot Honecker
from the post of Minister for Higher and Technical
Education. ADN said that she had requested to
resign for personal reasons on October 20.

The Chairman of the National Democratic Party,
Heinrich Hornann, resigned. He said he was resigning
because of his health and "in view of the situation
of the party."

The Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union,
Gerald Goetting, resigned. He is to be replaced on
November 20. Goetting said he hoped his resignation
would contribute to the mood within the party.

The SED First Secretary in the Suhl district, Hans
Albrecht, resigned. He was replaced by Peter
Pechauf on the recommendation of the SED Politburo.
According to ADN, Albrecht had been criticized in
recent months for his arrogant manner and his
accumulation of privilege.

The SED First Secretary in the Gera district,
Herbert Ziegenhahn, resigned. He was replaced by
Erich Postler, formerly SED Second Secrtary in
Schwerin. Postler had been recommended by SED

[page 6]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

Poliburo member Werner Krolikowski. According to
ADN, Ziegenhahn asked to be replaced due to poor
health and age.

The entire board of the Composer's Union resigned.
President Wolfgang Lesser said that he did not have
the trust of the union.

Wolfgang Weichelt, Chairman of the Volkskammer
Committee on the Constitution, said that reforms
should include multi-candidate elections and public
supervision of the polls.

70,000 people demonstrated in Gera. Another 20,000
rallied in Rostock, and 10,000 turned out in both
Halle and Guben. There was also a demonstration in
Erfurt.

Another 700 East German refugees entered the West
German embassy in Prague, bringing the total to
1300. East Berlin's embassy in Prague began issuing
the refugees documents permitting them to emigrate
to West Germany, About 80 left Prague in two buses
for West Germany.

November 3 In a surprise television address, Egon Krenz
announced far-reaching reforms and that five aging
Politburo members would resign. The outgoing
Politburo members are Hermann Axen, Kurt Hager,
Erich Mielke, Erich Mueckenberger, and Alfred
Neumann. Krenz said that a package of reforms which
would affect the constitution, the economic and
political systems, and the educational system would
be put to the Central Committee plenum scheduled for
November 8-10. He announced that a civil service
alternative to military service for conscientious
objectors would be introduced.

Over 4000 East Germans took refuge in the West
Germany embassy in Prague. The East German
authorities agreed late in the evening to allow the
refugees to leave directly for West Germany, rather
than making them wait to receive formal travel
documents from the East German embassy.

In an article in Der Morgen the leadership of the
LDPD called on the East German government to resign.
It also demanded that Volkskammer president Horst

[page 7]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

Sindermann resign and be replaced by LDPD chairman
Manfred Gerlach. The party leadership urged that
the Volkskammer convene as soon as possible.

The Democratic Peasants' Party demanded that the
Volkskammer meet in the immediate future. The DBD
also demanded that an independent commission be set
up to investigate allegations of the misuse of power
by leading government functionaries.

The mayor of Leipzig, Bernd Seidel, resigned.
According to ADN, he was responding to a "loss
of trust in his leadership."

Herbert Bischoff, the head of the Artists' Union
resigned. According to ADN he was forced to step
down after opposing a proclamation of support by
theater workers for a demonstration in East Berlin
scheduled for November 4.

About 50,000 people rallied in Erfurt. Another
20,000 mairched in Karl-Marx-Stadt, 10,000 in
Dessau, and 6,500 in Guestrow.

ADN reported that East Berlin authorities had formed
a commission to investigate public complaints of
police brutality in quelling mass demonstration on
October 7 and 8.

Three people were sentenced in Dresden to prison
terms ranging from 26 months to four years for
taking part in a violent demonstration at the
Dresden railway station on October 4. The three men
were found guilty of unlawful assembly and serious
acts of violence.

November 4 As many as 1,000,000 people demonstrated for
reforms, freedom of speech and assembly, and free
elections in East Berlin. It was the largest
demonstration in East German history. Organized by
prominent artists and intellectuals, the march had
been officially authorized. Communist party
functionaries, artists, and opposition leaders
addressed the crowds gathered in the Alexanderplatz.

There were similar protests in other cities in the
GDR. ADN said that 40,000 people marched in
Magdeburg, 12,000 in Altenburg, and several thousand
in both Potsdam and Arnstadt.

[page 8]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

Some 7,000 East German refugees crossed the
Czechoslovak border to West Germany.

ADN reported that the SED First Secretary in the
district of Schwerin, Hans Ziegner, was forced to
step down. He was replaced by Hans-Juergen Audehm.

November 5 Another 8,000 East Germans crossed into West Germany
via Czechoslovakia, bringing the total number of
refugees to have used this route since November 3 to
15,000. Most simply drove across a narrow neck of
northwestern Czechoslovakia, arriving at the West
German border after having travelled only a few
kilometers on Czechoslovak territory.

The Leipzig district SED First Secretary Horst
Schumann resigned. He was replaced by Secretariat
member Roland Woetzel.

Tens of thousands of East Germans took part in
public discussions with officials in East Berlin,
Dresden, Karl-Marx-Stadt, Leipzig, Gera, and
Rostock.

At a public discussion in East Berlin, SED Central
Committee member Helmut Mueller supported calls for
an early party congress to elect a new Central
Committee. A regular congress is scheduled for next
May.

Minister of Culture Hans-Joachim Hoffmann
suggested during a public meeting in Leipzig that
the entire SED Politburo should resign to give Krenz
a "real chance."

The Union of Jewish Communities called on the
authorities to give a more frank account of the
history of anti-Semitism. It urged that school
books be rewritten to give a full account of how
Jews in East Germany were treated both during the
Nazi era and during the Stalin years. The statement
also said the GDR should establish full diplomatic
relations with Israel.

November 6 Several hundred thousand people demonstrated both in
Leipzig and Dresden. There were also demonstrations
in several other cities including Schwerin, Halle,
and Magdeburg.

[page 9]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

By evening more than 23,000 East German refugees had
crossed into West Germany via Czechoslovakia since
November 3, when exit formalities were suspended.

A draft law on travel was published in Neues
Deutschland. It said that each East German citizens
had the right to a passport and to apply for a visa
allowing travel up to thirty days per year. Except
in emergencies, visas must be applied for at least
one month in advance. Permission to travel can
still be denied in order to protect "national
security, public order, or the health, morality,
rights, and freedoms of others." The law also sets
conditions for emigration. No longer is this just
possible in cases of bringing families together.
Persons wishing to emigrate must only prove they
have no outstanding payments or property claims.
The authorities must make a decision at the latest
within six months.

The new head of the FDGB, Annelis Kimmel, said that
a 40-hour work week should be introduced. She also
said that the unions should be independent and the
communist party must not interfere with their work.

November 7 The newly-appointed government spokesman Wolfgang
Meyer announced that the entire Council of Ministers
formally handed its resignation to the Volkskammer,
which will elect a new cabinet. Meyer also said the
government appealed to all citizens "in this
politically and economically serious time" to keep
"absolutely essential" sectors of the economy
running.

The Volkskammer constitutional and legal committee
rejected the draft travel law. The committee said
the draft, was unacceptable and called for visa-free
travel and unlimited travel for all. The committee
also expressed disappointment that the parliament's
presidium had delayed calling a session to discuss
the current political situation in the country.

The youth daily Junge Welt said that the entire SED
Politburo and the government should resign
immediately in order to enable a new Politburo and a
new government to act with a minimum of
complications.

[page 10]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

More demonstration were reported in the GDR. Protest
marches involving tens of thousands of people took
place in Wismar, Meiningen, and East Berlin.

November 8 The SED Central Committee convened its 10th plenary
session. The entire Poliburo resigned, only for a
new one to be appointed three hours later. It
consisted of 11 members, of which four were
newcomers. These are Hans Modrow, Wolfgang Herger,
Wolfgang Rauchfuss, and Gerhard Schuerer. The
seven old- timers are Egon Krenz, Hans-Joachim
Boehme, Werner Eberlein, Werner Jarowinski, Heinz
Kessler, Siegfried Lorenz, and Guenter Schabowski.
Candidate members are Johannes Chemnitzer, Inge
Lange, Margaret Mueller, Guenter Sieber, and
Hans-Joachim Willerding. Krenz was confired as SED
General Secretary and the CC appointed nine new CC
secretariess Egon Krenz, Johannes Chemnitzer,
Wolfgang Herger, Inge Lange, Siegfried Lorenz,
Wolfgang Rauchfuss, Guenter Schabowski, Guenter
Sieber, and Hans-Joachim Willerding. The CC also
proposed Hans Modrow to be the new Prime Minister.

Egon Krenz gave a speech to the SED Central
Committee in which he announced a set of planned
political reforms, including "free, democratic
elections." He also proposed the separation of
party and state, economic reforms, alternative
service for conscientious objection, a change in the
penal law, and a new media law.

Politburo member Guenter Schabowski told a new
conference that the CC would propose a new election
law allowing all accredited political groups to take
part. He said that the communists theoretically
could be voted out of office, but that they were not
planning to wipe themselves off the political map.
Schabowski also said that the authorities were
likely to give legal status to the New Forum. The
East German Interior Ministry has now accepted this
group's application for official registration.

The Mayor of Magdeburg, Werner Herzig, resigned
after residents had been calling for his removal.

West German border officials reported that since
November 3, 60,000 East Germans had arrived in West
Germany by way of Czechoslovakia.

[page 11]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

Author Christa Wolf appealed on television to
would-be emigres to stay in the country. She was
reading a statement signed by five unofficial groups
including New Forum and the Social Democratic Party.

ADN announced that 385 members of the state security
service were being transferred to other sectors
because of the "urgent demands of the economy."
Protesters have demanded that the "Stasi go into the
productive sector" to make up for the labor
shortages caused by the massive flight of East
Germans to the West.

[page 13]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

HUNGARY

November 1 HSP Presidium member and State Minister Imre Pozsgay
-8 held official talks in Canada and the US. Pozsgay
was received by President Bush and met
representatives of Hungarian emigre organizations.
At a press conference in Washington, Pozsgay
announced that Hungary would compensate
Czechoslovakia for the cessation of construction of
the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dam project. In Finland,
the last stop on Pozsgay's Western tour, the State
Minister held talks on the forthcoming elections in
Hungary and said he was confident that the HSP had a
fair chance to win.

November 2 HSP Chairman Rezso Nyers held official talks in
Denmark on reforms in Hungary. The Danish Social
Democrats recognized the HSP as a fellow social
democratic party and expressed their intention to
intensify relations with the HSP.

A meeting of the Socialist International held in
Italy discussed the admission of the Hungarian
Socialist Party to this organization.

November 3 The Hungarian Social Democratic Party held its 36th
-5 national congress and voted to rescind the 1948 act
of unification between the Social Democrats and the
Communists. The congress elected a 31-member
presidium and Anna Petrassovics as party president.
A resolution was adopted which said that the HSDP
was the only Hungarian party entitled to be in the
Socialist International. A centrist wing of the
HSDP left the congress and established a new party,
called the Independent Social Democratic Party.

November 3 Prime Minister Miklos Nemeth and his Yugoslav
-4 counterpart Ante Marcovic held talks on bilateral
relations in Belgrad.

November 4 The Hungarian Radical Party and the Hungarian
October Party staged a demonstration in front of the
Soviet embassy in Budapest demanding the immediate
withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungarian
territory. The Alliance of Free Democrats presented
a memorandum to the Soviet consulate in Debrecen

[page 14]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

asking for the withdrawal of the Soviet army form
Hungary. The Hungarian government firmly rejected
any kind of anti-Soviet manifestations.

November 6 Rezso Nyers paid an official visit to Sweden at the
invitation of the Swedish Social Democratic Party.

In an interview on Hungarian TV, dissident
Czechoslovak playwright Vaclav Havel said that
Czechoslovaks had been misinformed about the
Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dam project.

November 7 Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales paid an
official visit to Hungary at the invitation of Prime
Minister Miklos Nemeth. Gonzales also held talks
with interim President Matyas Szuros.

For the first time since the communist takeover, the
anniversary of the October Revolution was not a
holiday but a normal working day. Radio Budapest
reported that several hundred members of the
officially dissolved HSWP held a meeting in Budapest
to mark the occasion and announced plans to hold a
regular HSWP congress in December. Former HSWP
First Secretary Karoly Grosz addressed the meeting.

Grosz was separately quoted as sharply criticizing
the Hungarian press and announcing that the
re-established HSWP wanted to set up a newspaper of
its own.

The daily Magyar Hlrlap published a letter by
Transylvanian Protestant priest Laszlo Tokes, in
which he said he and his family had been attacked
and beaten by masked individuals who broke into his
home. The Hungarian Foreign Ministry protested
against Tokes's harassment at the Romanian embassy.

[page 15]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

POLAND

November 2 East German communist party Secretary General Egon
Krenz met with Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki and
President Wojciech Jaruzelski in Warsaw. Krenz told
reporters that he thought Poland and East Germany
could learn from one another. Krenz said he had a
"very good talk" with Mazowiecki.

West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl informed the
Mazowiecki government that he had dropped plans to
attend a German-language Mass at Gora Swietej Anny
during his coming visit to Poland. Kohl and
Mazowiecki spoke by telephone about the visit.
Kohl's special envoy Horst Teltschik traveled to
Warsaw for further talks with his Polish
counterpart, Mieczyslaw Pszon.

In an interview with Trybuna Ludu, Minister Jacek
Ambroziak said that the Polish government regretted
that Kohl had suggested the Gora Swietej Anny site
as part of his itinerary.

Officials from the Ministry of Culture met with
representatives of independent (and, until
recently, illegal) publishing firms to discuss the
transition to a normal publishing practice for all
publishers: state, private, and underground.

Minister of Culture Izabella Cywinska attended a
two-day symposium in Blois, France, devoted to
European culture. Adam Michnik, who also attended,
said that "we are here with Westerners to express
our moral and intellectual liberation."

Solidarity leader Lech Walesa thanked the US for its
first emergency shipment of grain to Poland, which
had just arrived in Gdansk. Walesa noted that
farming equipment would be more helpful than
shipments of food in Poland's economic recovery.

Sejm Speaker Mikolaj Kozakiewicz told reporters in
Washington that Poland's economic situation was
"dramatic" and urged US officials to hasten efforts
to provide financial aid.

[page 16]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

November 3 The government announced that subsidies and tax
exemptions for all political parties and social
organizations would be halted as of 1 January 1990.
The minister responsible for contacts with political
parties, Aleksander Hall, said that parties should
derive their strength from public support and
voluntary contributions, not from privilege. Hall
said that it was not the government's duty to
redistribute privileges, but rather to ensure that
the state limited its presence in public and social
life and merely ensured that all groups enjoyed
equal rights.

At the same press conference, government spokesman
Malgorzata Niezabitowska made public the subsidies
and other support provided this year from the state
budget to the three official parties. In 1989, the
PUWP received 13,000 million zloty in outright
subsidies, 52,000 million zloty in tax exemptions,
and 18,000 million zloty in government-guaranteed
loans paid out at 3% interest. The UPP received 600
million zloty outright, tax exemptions worth 5.4
million zloty, and 6,500 million zloty in
low-interest government-guaranteed loans. The
Democratic Party received 455 million zloty in
subsidies and 2,500 million zloty in
government-guaranteed loans.

Deputy Finance Minister Marek Dabrowski announced
that the government had already halted payment of
subsidies to political parties and organizations. It
was announced, however, that the government would
make no attempt to retrieve the assets of formerly
privileged political organizations. Dabrowski added
that the government intended to abolish all
"individual" tax exemptions (exemptions awarded to
specific entities rather than entire economic
categories).

The Polish Senate approved the revised budget law
for November and December 1989. Minister of
Agriculture Czeslaw Janicki told the Senate that the
government did not intend to apply administrative
restrictions on price increases. Indeed, he said,
the government intended to take firm measures
against all monopolistic practices.

West German government spokesman Hans Klein
confirmed that Chancellor Helmut Kohl had decided

[page 17]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

not to travel to Gora Swietej Anny in Silesia. Klein
said that Kohl and Prime Minister Mazowiecki had
agreed by telephone that both leaders would attend a
bilingual religious service in Krzyzowa (where the
German resistance group during World War II, the
Kreisau Circle, held its meetings). A West German
government statement called Krzyzowa an appropriate
place to symbolize German-Polish reconciliation.
Klein said that Kohl had intended his proposed trip
to Gora Swietej Anny as a gesture of reconciliation
between Poland and West Germany, and between Poles
and the German minority. He said Bishop Alfons
Nossol of Opole had invited Kohl to attend a
German-language religious service there. Nossol
urged Kohl to drop the visit from his itinerary when
it proved controversial, and instead invited
members of the German minority to attend the service
at Krzyzowa, which he would celebrate.

Work was completed on an investment protection
agreement between Poland and West Germany, to be
signed during Chancellor Helmut Kohl's visit to
Poland. Polish objections to the transfer of
profits out of the country had held up negotiations.
West German officials said that they had in the end
agreed upon a principle of gradual transfer,
starting with 15% in 1993, rising to 100% in 1998.

Finance Minister Leszek Balcerowicz told a meeting
of the government's economic committee that the
supply of raw and intermediate materials to industry
was getting worse. As a result, he said, the pace
of production was slowing down. Balcerowicz said
the government would have to initiate structural
changes that would promote efficiency in the
distribution and use of resources.

Rzeczpospolita reported that Polish coal production
in 1989 was expected to be 7% less than in 1988.
Industry Ministry officials attributed the drop
mainly to the cessation of mining on weekends.

CPSU Politburo member Nikolai Slyunkov met in Warsaw
with Prime Minister Mazowiecki and also with PUWP
First Secretary Rakowski. Slyunkov said the Soviet
Union was interested in the rapid stabilization of
the economic and political situation in Poland.
Slyunkov said the changes taking place in Poland's
political life were no obstacle for the further
development of Polish-Soviet economic relations.

[page 18]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

Poland's Ambassador to the US, Jan Kinast, thanked
the US government for providing food and economic
aid to Poland. Kinast spoke at a ceremony in
Washington at which he and US Secretary of
Agriculture Clayton Yeutter signed an agreement for
the US to provide 10,000 pork bellies to Poland.
	
A team of experts on nuclear power appointed by the
government to weigh the pros and cons of the
construction of the Zarnowiec power plant held a
meeting in Warsaw. PAP reported that the team was
divided over the fate of the plant, construction of
which has just barely begun. The team said it would
soon present its report to the government. About 60
people demonstrated outside the Ministry of Industry
building, demanding that construction of the
Zarnowiec nuclear power plant be halted.

Trybuna Ludu said that Poland's improved relations
with South Korea were neither surprising nor
unexpected and reflected the changing international
atmosphere. North Korea's communist party daily
called Poland's restoration of formal diplomatic
relations with South Korea "shameful and deplorable"
and said that Poland would regret its decision.

November 4 Lech Walesa told the West German Bild am Sonntag
that he was surprised by the pace of reform in East
Germany. He worried that the changes were
proceeding too rapidly. He said that the division
of Germany was artificial and should be ended, but
urged that efforts to achieve reunification not be
rushed.

PAP reported that a group of masked youths had
attacked members of the Freedom and Peace movement
at a Warsaw apartment that served as an office for
the Polish Socialist Party-Democratic Revolution
(PPS-RD). Two people were hospitalized. The Warsaw
prosecutor's office reported that an investigation
was underway and that two youths had been detained.

November 5 Representatives of the revived Polish Peasants'
Party (PSL) affiliated with PSL veteran General
Franciszek Kaminski announced that the first PSL
congress since 1946 would open November 11 in
Warsaw. A communique read on Polish Television said

[page 19]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

that this would be only the second congress in the
party's history, as the party had been "brutally
crushed" shortly after its foundation.

About 5,000 Czechs and Slovaks travelled to Wroclaw
to attend a three-day cultural forum organized by
Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity. The topic of the
forum was "Central Europe: Culture Perplexed Between
Totalitarianism and Commercialism." Many emigre
musicians, including Karel Kryl, attended. Some of
the invited artists, historians, and guests were
barred by Czechoslovak border guards from crossing
into Poland* Sejm deputy Zbigniew Janas said that
the organizers of the forum had asked the Polish
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a protest to
the Czechoslovak authorities. A group of 20
historians filed a complaint at the Polish Embassy
in Prague, saying that Czechoslovak border guards
had forced them off their train.

Representatives of the PPS-RD suggested that the
attack on their Warsaw office by masked youths on
November 3 had been inspired by the security police. ,
They called for a thorough and unbiased
investigation of the incident.

November 5 Foreign Minister Krzysztof Skubiszewski made an
-8 official visit to Austria. He held talks with his
counterpart, Alois Mock, and met with Chancellor
Franz Vranitzky. He also paid a courtesy call on
Austrian President Kurt Waldheim. During
Skubiszewski's visit, it was announced that Austria
would double its food aid to Poland, to 40,000,000
schillings.

November 6 The government decided that prices of gasoline and
diesel fuel would be allowed to rise every few weeks
by from 50 to 200 zloty per liter. The price
increases were necessary to keep pace with the
government's steady devaluation of the zloty against
hard currency, which had to be used to purchase the
fuel.

The zloty was devalued 16.6%. This was the 14th
devaluation in 1989. The new official rate raised
the value of the US dollar from 2400 to 2800. The
free market value of the dollar continued to drop.

At a news conference in Austria, Foreign Minister
Krzysztof Skubiszewski said he expected the visit of

[page 20]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl to mark a
"breakthrough" in bilateral relations. Skubiszewski
said that German reunification could take place only
within the current borders of the two German states.

Prime Minister Mazowiecki and West German Chancellor
Kohl again spoke by telephone to discuss Kohl's
impending visit to Poland. Mazowiecki afterwards
told West German journalists that the Polish
government wanted the 1970 Warsaw treaty "to be
interpreted unequivocally as a final settlement of
our borders." "The Oder-Neisse frontier is beyond
all discussion," Mazowiecki said.

West German officials said that the joint
declaration to be signed during Kohl's visit to
Poland would neither back off from nor go beyond the
1970 Warsaw treaty in which the FRG recognized
Poland's western borders. The joint declaration
would confirm the treaty as the foundation of
bilateral relations but could not itself alter the
legal situation, officials explained. Bonn's
position, West German government officials said,
was still that only an eventual peace treaty between
Poland and a united Germany could legally determine
the final borders.

A poll published by Gazeta Wyborcza showed that
fewer than 20% of Poles felt friendly toward
Germans. Almost 44% of those polled felt aversion or
hostility.

Interviewed about his impending visit to the United
States, Solidarity leader Lech Walesa said he had
two messages to delivers to say thank you to
Americans for all they had done for Poland and to
tell US leaders that Poland wanted to "stay friends"
with the US. Poland wanted cooperation, not charity
from the US, Walesa said.

Rural Solidarity's candidate Waldemar Bohdanowicz
was elected mayor of Lodz, receiving 110 of 168
votes. The communist-dominated city council had
previously rejected the first two candidates
approved by Prime Minister Mazowiecki, who then
approved a further five candidates. Bohdanowicz had
been a candidate in both rounds.

Prime Minister Mazowiecki sent a telegram to his
Soviet counterpart, Nikolai Ryzhkov, to mark the

[page 21]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

October Revolution anniversary. President
Jaruzelski sent a similar telegram to Soviet
President Mikhail Gorbachev. Radio Warsaw said that
both telegrams stressed the similarity of the
changes taking place in Poland and the Soviet Union.

In an interview with Rzeczpospolita, Ryszard Reiff,
Chairman of the Senate Commission for Emigration and
for Poles Living Abroad, said that the repatriation
of Poles living in the USSR was a very important
issue. Reiff said that Poles living near the
Polish-Soviet border had contacts with Poland, but
that the situation of the 100,000-250,000 Poles
living beyond the Urals was more difficult. He
called for the creation of a body to organize and
expedite the repatriation of Poles from the USSR.

Lech Walesa met with Cuban dissident Armando
Valladares in Gdansk. Valladares credited Walesa
with having started a process that would lead to
freedom for the countries of Eastern Europe. Walesa
said that reforms in Cuba were unavoidable.

European Community foreign ministers voted to give
trade concessions to Poland and Hungary. The EC
decided to drop import quotas on industrial products
from both countries and reduce tariffs on a range of
other products.

US Congressional leaders reached agreement on a
$657,000,000 aid package for Poland and Hungary to
be included in a more general foreign aid bill. The
bill included a $200,000,000 contribution to an
international fund designed to stabilize Poland's
currency, $200,000,000 for a trade credit insurance
program, and $40,000,000 in risk insurance for US
commercial ventures through the OPIC. It also
includes $45,000,000 to set up funds to encourage
private enterprise in Poland and $125,000,000 in
food aid. The bill had still to be approved by the
full House and Senate. US President George Bush
threatened to veto the foreign aid bill because it
contained funds for a UN population control program.

At the initiative of President Jaruzelski's press
spokesman, representatives of the formerly official
journalists' union met with representatives of the
independent journalists' association. Principles of
cooperation between the two groups were discussed.

[page 22]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

Radio Warsaw offered only the briefest accounts of
the PUWP Central Committee's 16th plenum. Discussion
was reported to have been animated. The CC approved
modified versions of a new program and new statutes
to be used as a platform for discussion in the
period preceding the party's 11th congress in
January 1990. The draft program submitted to the CC
endorsed "genuine" parliamentary democracy and
discarded such Marxist-Leninist tenets as democratic
centralism, the leading role of the party, and the
dictatorship of the proletariat. The CC decided
that party members should elect delegates to the
congress directly, in elections to be completed by
December 20. As reported by TASS, First Secretary
Rakowski closed the plenum with an appeal for unity
and a plea for activism. Rakowski said that the
party should emerge from its difficulties as "a new
party of the Left, a party of democratic
socialism."

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Majewski met
in Tokyo with his Japanese counterpart Misashi
Owada. Majewski appealed for financial assistance
in reshaping the Polish economy. On November 7,
Majewski encouraged Japanese business leaders to be
more courageous about investing in Poland.

November 6 A Polish government economic mission visited the US.
-7 Minister and Chairman of the Economic Council Witold
Trzeciakowski, Industry Minister Tadeusz Syryjczyk,
Central Planning Office Director Jerzy Osiatynski,
and Deputy Finance Minister Marek Dabrowski
presented the government's economic program.

November 7 The free market value of the dollar plummeted,
reaching as little as 4,500 zloty. Currency traders
noted that people were selling vast amounts of
dollars. Gazeta Wyborcza claimed that the
government had settled on 3,500 zloty as the uniform
exchange rate for the dollar, to be imposed at the
start of 1990.

Foreign Minister Krzysztof Skubiszewski told an
interviewer for Austrian Television that the
existence of two German states was one of the
assumptions on which Polish foreign policy was
based. Skubiszewski said that Poland felt the
unification of the two Germanies was a long way off.

[page 23]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

The Presidium of Solidarity's National Executive
Commission met in Gdansk. Among the topics
discussed were preparations for the Solidarity
congress to be held early in 1990.

President Jaruzelski replied to West German
President Richard von Weizsaecker's letter on the
occasion of the 50th anniversary of Germany's attack
on Poland. According to Reuter, Jaruzelski said
that the two nations could only be reconciled if the
Germans recognized the permanence of Poland's
post-war borders. Jaruzelski invited von Weizsaecker
to visit Poland.

The West German government announced that 11
cooperation agreements would be signed and a joint
declaration issued during Chancellor Helmut Kohl's
visit to Poland. Seven government ministers and 45
businessmen and bankers, as well as other
politicians, academics, and religious and cultural
figures would accompany Kohl.

An editorial in Gazeta Wyborcza said that a
"fundamental" principle in improving Polish
relations with West Germany was that the Oder-Neisse
border remain "in the future Poland's inviolable and
indisputable Western frontier." The paper urged that
the rights of Germans in Poland be respected, noting
that it was unacceptable "to let anyone limit anyone
else's national rights, regardless of whether this
concerns nations forming a majority in a sovereign
state or representatives of a national minority."

Labor Minister Jacek Kuron announced that in under
two weeks, 37,551,102 zloty and $2,376 had been
donated to the SOS fund set up by the government to
channel help to those in need.

A handful of people demonstrated outside the Soviet
Embassy in Warsaw in support of striking miners in
the Soviet Union. The protesters belonged to the
PPS-RD and the Freedom and Peace movement.

November 8 Asked to comment on the dramatic decline in value of
the dollar against the zloty, deputy government
spokesman Henryk Wozniakowski said that the falling
dollar would help Poland to achieve convertibility,

[page 24]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

but that the development puzzled economists. He
said that experts believed the dollar had reached
its lowest possible level.

Solidarity representatives at the Ursus tractor
factory near Warsaw called a strike alert. They
said the purpose of the alert was to pressure the
government to remove price controls on Ursus
tractors, which they said prevented workers' wages
from keeping pace with rising food prices.

Meeting in Warsaw, the National Council of the
Patriotic Movement for National Rebirth (PRON)
decided to dissolve its national leadership. The
council adopted a resolution saying it had become
possible to "achieve agreement on a wider plane than
that offered by PRON," PRON General Secretary
Stanislaw Ciosek said that while PRON had
accomplished much to its credit, it had failed to
attract members of the political opposition.

On the eve of Chancellor Kohl's Poland visit, the
West German Bundestag approved a resolution saying
that Germans would not question Poland's right to
live within secure borders. The resolution said
that the Bundestag stood fully by the 1970
Polish-West German treaty, but noted that this did
not affect the fact that there was no formal
Polish-German peace treaty ending World War II. In
a statement to parliament, Kohl said that he and
Prime Minister Mazowiecki were determined to seek a
breakthrough in relations. The time was ripe for
understanding and lasting reconciliation between
Poland and West Germany, Kohl said.

In interviews preceding his departure for the United
States, Solidarity leader Lech Walesa said that he
would tell Americans businesspeople that they should
act like Columbus in reverse and "discover" Poland.
There was money to be made, Walesa said. Walesa
described the current government as "transitional,"
saying its main job was to lead the country to
"pluralism, real elections, and real democracy."

World Bank President Barber Conable warned Western
countries against pouring money into Poland. Conable
said he was worried about what he considered the
overeagerness of the US to supply aid. If financial

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WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

assistance were not coordinated sensibly, Conable
said, it could actually lead to a worsening of
economic conditions in Poland.

The formerly official United Peasants Party (ZSL)
reported on Polish Television that it planned to
transform itself into a new party at its congress
scheduled for November 26 and 27. The ZSL would
then become the Polish Peasants Party (PSL),
assuming the name of the party headed by Stanislaw
Mikolajczyk, Poland's postwar Prime Minister.

The government authorized the managers of all food
stores to reduce, on their own authority, the prices
of goods that were not selling. The measure was
designed to prevent over-priced goods from spoiling.
Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Janicki told a press
conference that the laws of supply and demand were
already taking effect, forcing the prices of some
goods to drop.

An article in Sztandar Mlodych said that the "red
terror" had already appeared in Lenin's lifetime and
enjoyed the Soviet leader's assent and support. The
article called on the Soviet Union to find the
courage to admit the truth about Lenin's
responsibility for the development of terror.

A group of Citizens Parliamentary Caucus deputies,
Citizens' Committee activists, economic society
members, and other political activists announced
that they were preparing to found a Center-Right
political party to be called the "Polish Politics
Movement." The party would support the development
of a strong middle class. It would base its
platform on Christian values and draw inspiration
from liberal, conservative, and national traditions
of political thought. The protection of the family
would assume a central place in its policies.

Solidarity's National Executive Commission met in
Gdansk to discuss the union's planned venture into
economic undertakings to provide funds for union
activities and preparations for Solidarity's
national congress.

[page 27]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

ROMANIA

November 2 Romanian UN delegate Marian Dinu told the UN General
Assembly Economic Committee that the UN should
sponsor an international conference on the world
debt crisis. Dinu criticized IMF and World Bank
policies on indebtedness of developing countries.

November 3 In a hearing held by a US House of Representatives
Subcommittee, State Department Director of Refugee
Programs Princeton Lyman said the human rights
situation in Romania was deteriorating, and the US
would therefore continue to accept many Romanians as
bona fide political refugee.

Hungarian Minister of State and Presidential
candidate Imre Poszgay said in an interview in
Washington that Hungary's relations with Romania
were bad, and there was no prospect of improvement
unless the Romanian government changed its human
rights policy toward the ethnic Hungarian minority.

The three-week CSCE environmental conference in
Sofia ended without a final document because Romania
rejected a paragraph on the rights of individuals
and independent organizations to express their
concern about environmental problems.

Bucharest hosted a three-day Balkan conference on
promoting economic and commercial cooperation in the
area.

The RCP Political Executive Committee criticized the
failure of some (unspecified) economic sectors to
fulfill this year's plan targets. The committee
proposed that CC secretaries Ion Stoian (in charge
of international relations), and Ion Sirbu (in
charge of economic affairs) be released. The
committee proposed they be replaced, respectively,
by Hie Matei (up to now First Secretary of the
Timis county party organization), and Iosif Szasz
(First Secretary of Caras-Severin county party
organization).

A Presidential decree released Radu Balan as
Chairman of the State Planning Committee.

[page 28]

WEEKLY RECORD OF EVENTS
2 to 8 November 1989

November 4 A Presidential decree released loan Totu as Minister
of Foreign Affairs and appointed him Chairman of the
State Planning Committee. This committee was
enlarged by the incorporation, as a department, of
the former Ministry of Technical-Material Supply.
The head of the disbanded ministry, Gheorghe
Stoica, was appointed Minister State Secretary of
the State Planning Committee and chief of its
Technical-Material Supply Department.

Ion Stoian , former RCP CC Secretary in charge of
international relations, was appointed by
Presidential decree as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

November 8 Conferences took place in 20 of Romania's 41 county
party organizations and new leading bodies were
elected. No changes were made in the county party
leaderships, except in the case of one First
Secretary who had been released from the position
some ten months earlier and was now re-elected.

Ceausescu paid a "working" visit to some industrial
enterprises in Bucharest. At the Heavy Machine
Manufacturing Enterprise, which produces nuclear
power equipment, Ceausescu emphasized the need to
improve the quality of such equipment.

The official Hungarian news agency MTI quoted the
Hungarian Internal Affairs Ministry's Office for
Refugees as saying that 24,000 refugees from Romania
were now in Hungary. Over 18,000 of them were
ethnic Hungarians, 4,200 Romanians, and 1,100
belonged to the German minority.

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